n
POV
Retooling Business Models to Meet
Consumer Demand
by MARWAN FORZLEY
Marwan Forzley is CEO and founder of Veem
T
here's a popular misconception
that retail is dying.
The faulty narrative says Amazon
has put retailers out of business by
creating a convenient online platform
that cuts out the middleman.
It's easy for retail to point to
Amazon as the culprit, but it's a costly
mistake. Amazon isn't crushing retail
- it's meeting consumer demand.
That's the difference. Who can
blame Amazon for using the latest
technology to give consumers what
they want?
Some retailers are finding success in
their fields by retooling their business
models to meet consumer demand.
Millennials care about experience and
technology. They're even willing to pay a slightly higher price for
a better experience.
We operate in a global economy where it's possible to buy
anything, anywhere. The retailers that are successful are those
setting themselves apart from the competition. The Home Depot
has an expert staff that consumers can interact with while
they're shopping. Similarly, Best Buy has the Geek Squad to
troubleshoot for countless consumers.
Amazon didn't kill retail. Some retailers' inability to adapt to
new technologies and consumer demands is the problem. Retail
could learn a lesson from small businesses. After all, they rely
on technology and consumer trends to compete with larger
companies.
Market transformations, much like the current shift in retail,
are where small businesses thrive. They're dynamic enough to
switch gears at a moment's notice, unlike larger companies.
Small businesses are often early adopters, embracing the
latest technology to remain competitive - technologies like
cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which exploded onto the scene in 2017,
and blockchain, the powerhouse behind it.
48
STORES April 2018
Blockchain should be at the forefront
of every retail strategy. It's transforming
the market and will have a global impact
similar to the invention of the internet.
With close to 2.5 billion people
outside the financial system, there's a
massive untapped market for consumer
goods waiting to be explored. Retailers
implementing cryptocurrency payment
through blockchain will expand their
market exponentially.
Many "unbanked" people live in
parts of the world where corruption,
both in the government and in
business, are prevalent. This means
that even if cryptocurrencies could let
them make online purchases, getting
products to them will be difficult.
Blockchain's distributed ledger bypasses this by creating a
verified record for every "touch" - from supplier to shipper.
Think of it as a tamper-proof ledger that is audited in real time,
meaning a business's numbers are always in sync. This is the type
of technology that retailers are missing in their business operations.
Small businesses that wait to implement blockchain technology
risk joining retailers that failed to adapt. Amazon is already
using the blockchain through its Amazon Web Services cloudcomputing platform.
Globalization has made the world a business's target market.
Small businesses have to connect with the global economy, and
difficult cross-border interactions are no longer an excuse.
With blockchain technology, business-to-business payments
are faster, safer and more transparent than ever before. This is
the type of streamlining that has made companies like Amazon
so successful.
Blockchain started globally, and is expanding every day. Small
businesses need to embrace international trade and cuttingedge technology, and there's no better place to start than with
blockchain.
STORES.ORG